The reading is a short excerpt from Michelle Alexander’s 2010 book “The New Jim Crow”. This excerpt is about economic incentives and their effects on the criminal justice system.
What did you find particularly surprising, interesting, or confusing about the reading? What connections can we draw between the discussion in this excerpt and the kinds of ideas and tools from economics that we’ve been studying in class? What “markets” are being described and who are the buyers and sellers? How do those markets create or reflect the incentives of people in society? How has public policy shaped incentives and outcomes in these markets? Can you think of other types of goods for which markets may be controversial or problematic? Why?
Sample Solution
